I haven’t blogged for two months. Our summer was a busy one and often there was simply no time to share thoughts with all of my blog followers. Or, perhaps, it was the heat that softened the mind and the creative juices evaporated during our 85 days of 100+ degree weather.
But today I have to share thoughts about my birthday, which is tomorrow. It all started with the water softener. What did I ever think my birthday had in common with our water softener? Until it malfunctioned I would have said there was no connection. But this morning the service man arrived to check why we no longer had sudsy showers and laundry. He came into the kitchen when he was done and as I wrote a check I started questioning why it has stopped working. He’s a man of few words, so “old parts,” was his candid response, to which I asked, “What do you mean old parts? What old parts?” He smiled and got on a very elementary level with me. “Your water softener is old and it has old parts that had to be replaced.” I truly expected him to add, “like people.” Broken parts would have been a gentler diagnosis, but he had treaded into dangerous waters of “old parts” on the day before my birthday. He reached for the check I was holding out for him and was out the door before I could even joke with him that my old parts, so far all original, were celebrating a birthday tomorrow. His comment stayed behind him in the house, however, and I started to create thoughts about birthdays.
I love birthdays – everyone’s birthdays -- and all the celebration and hoopla that go along with birthdays. With our children and their spouses I’ve watched with delight as they’ve grown into interesting and amazing adults. Our six awesome grandchildren are all doing the “growing like weeds” routine on Fred and me, and we love keeping up-to-date with all that goes on in their lives and measuring them against the door jamb when they come to visit. And, that includes spending birthdays with them whenever possible.
I don’t stress out about the passage of my years. It makes me sad when some of my friends won’t kick up their heels and celebrate their lives. It worries me when my contemporaries spend more time looking back rather than forward. And don’t even get me started about how annoyed I get when people “my age” say they are too old to grasp today’s technology wonders. “Well, you’d better learn to email and text,” I tell them not-so-gently, “or your kids, grandkids and even the greatgrands will leave you in their dust.” When I’m due for my next cell phone upgrade I plan on trading in my “dumb” phone and going the smart phone route.
The AARP Magazine regularly features highly-productive people in their 70s, many of whom are pursuing second careers. What is retirement anyway? Social Security is no longer a well-deserved safety net for the over 65 set to sit back and contemplate the meaning of life. But it’s still a great jump start to be self-employed and produce something amazing you didn’t have the time to develop until you passed your 70th birthday.
And what’s all this worry about wrinkles? Botox, shmotox! I’ve lived a long time to look like this and I happen to want to look my age. My sweet granddaughter in Wichita told me last year my neck wrinkles and white hair are the reasons she calls me Grammy. Now you see? I like being called Grammy by all our grandchildren, and if I snipped and clipped to get rid of my wrinkles or colored my hair they would have to change my name. That is simply not an option.
Well, I’m off and running to ice the birthday cake I just baked for myself, complete with multi-colored sprinkles! What’s a birthday without a cake? I'll get back on the diet tomorrow!!
I hope I’ve changed your minds about birthdays. Remember, todays are built by all our yesterdays – good and bad. But today is the time to celebrate and learn exciting new things and prepare for the wonder of tomorrow. Happy Birthday to me and to everyone who reads this blog during the year to come!
